Category Archives: Relationships

Fair Fighting Can Build Relationships

Aggression, conscience, Covert-Aggression, empathy, Integrity, Intimacy, Manipulation, Personality and Character, Psychological Manipulation, Psychology, Relationships, Responsibility, Spirituality, , , , ,

Fair fighting is fighting with principle. It’s strong advocacy tempered with care and concern. When we fight fairly, with principle, and with care not to needlessly injure, we build instead of destroy.

Fighting Dirty Destroys Relationships

Aggression, Covert-Aggression, Depression, empathy, gaslighting, Infidelity, Intimacy, Manipulation, Manipulators, Narcissism, Personality and Character, Personality and Character Disorders, Psychological Manipulation, Psychology, Relationships, Therapy, , , ,

Fighting dirty is fighting without principle-guided limits and boundaries. It’s placing winning over everything and using whatever tactics or psychological “weapons” you can think of to secure the dominant position. Such fighting is the destroyer of relationships.

Constructive Versus Destructive Relationships

Abuse, Aggression, Covert-Aggression, Entitlement, Integrity, Intimacy, Manipulation, Manipulators, Mental Health, Narcissism, Personality and Character, Personality and Character Disorders, Psychopathy and Sociopathy, Relationships, Responsibility, Self-Esteem, Social Issues, Spirituality, , , , , , ,

Some things are well worth fighting for. But there’s a way to go about this enterprise that builds as opposed to destroys.

Principled Fighting Defines Assertiveness

Abuse, Aggression, conscience, Covert-Aggression, empathy, Integrity, Manipulation, Manipulators, Mental Health, Narcissism, Personality and Character, Personality and Character Disorders, Psychological Manipulation, Psychology, Psychopathy and Sociopathy, Relationships, Responsibility, Social Issues, Spirituality, , , , , ,

Assertiveness is fair, principled, disciplined, fighting. And it’s the kind of just self-advocacy coupled with mindful concern for the impact on others that defines healthy character.

Willfulness Plus Willingness Yields Character

Abuse, Addiction and Recovery, conscience, Depression, Entitlement, Integrity, Manipulation, Manipulators, Narcissism, Personality and Character, Personality and Character Disorders, Psychological Manipulation, Psychology, Relationships, Responsibility, Spirituality, , , , ,

Willfulness has a positive and negative side. A strong will can be one’s foremost asset. But it can also be a great liability. A properly formed and guided will is essential for sound character.

Conscience and Conscientiousness

Abuse, Aggression, conscience, empathy, Integrity, Narcissism, Neurotics, Personality and Character, Personality and Character Disorders, Psychology, Relationships, Responsibility, Social Issues, Spirituality, , , ,

Disturbed characters know how to spot the conscientious. And they’re eager to exploit and abuse them. Sadly, sometimes overly conscientious folks delude themselves. They think they can “fix” the morally broken among us – those with impaired or absent consciences.

Right Thinking Makes for Right Acting

Addiction and Recovery, Empowerment, Faith, Integrity, Lying and Deception, Manipulation, Manipulators, Narcissism, Personality and Character, Personality and Character Disorders, Psychological Manipulation, Psychology, Relationships, Responsibility, Social Issues, Spirituality, Therapy, , , , , ,

Right thinking is thinking guided by principle. And not just any principle but the overriding principle of love.

A Guide to Purposeful Living

Abuse, Addiction and Recovery, conscience, empathy, Faith, Integrity, Manipulation, Mental Health, Personality and Character, Personality and Character Disorders, Psychology, Relationships, Spirituality, , , , , ,

Letting our appetites, aversions, and impulses drive us costs us plenty. We can feel pretty good in moments. But low points inevitably follow. In the process of riding that roller coaster, our soul begins to die. Mindfulness is key to purposeful living. At any given moment we have a choice. We can allow baser inclinations to rule. Or, we can put ourselves squarely at the service of a higher cause. Fully and freely turning ourselves over to something bigger is liberating. Free from the slavery of what usually drives us, we begin to live purposefully and abundantly.